Dragonvein (Book Two) (16 page)

This news came as a surprise to Ethan. Looking around, he could see that his friends were equally taken aback.

“I need to evacuate my city and take the people to Elyfoss,” Ganix continued. “My kingdom is not nearly so well-fortified. We could not hold out for long against a determined assault.”

Rakaal turned to face him, his expression grim. “Then you’ll have to march in the open. You realize that? In the
open
. With women and children and elders. How will you survive?”

“The humans will be too startled to stop us,” said Ganix.

“Forget the humans,” Rakaal said. “What about the elves? You will need to travel straight through elf lands to get there. They may leave a small party of dwarves alone. But you can’t seriously think they’ll ignore tens of thousands stomping through their territory.”

“There is no other way,” said Ganix. “Better to risk a fight with the elves than wait for Shinzan to come and slaughter us.”

Rakaal gave him a desperate look that lasted for several seconds. He then lowered his head and sighed. “You’re right, of course. You have to get them out.”

“Enough of this dark talk,” Ganix said briskly. “I hear you’re having trouble with the
suldaat
.”

Rakaal threw up his hands. “Bah! Whoever built those bloody things was a demon. Every time I think we’ve got one working, it catches on fire and falls apart.”

“What’s a
suldaat
?” asked Ethan.

Ganix laughed. “A true wonder. Well, it would be if Rakaal could get them to work.”

This criticism drew an irritated glance from his fellow dwarf. “I’ll get the bloody things working. You’ll see. Just give me time.”

A young girl entered the room. “The boy is awake,” she told Ganix.

After dismissing the girl, the king turned back to his cousin. “We have much to discuss. But that can wait until morning. First, I must attend to our captive. And I’m sure my friends are tired.”

With that, he hurried off, leaving Rakaal to show the others to their room.

The accommodations could hardly be described as luxurious. To both left and right, bunk beds were attached to the wall, while at the rear a door led through to a small bathroom. Near the entrance stood a metal table and six chairs. Other than that, the room was bare.

“Men and women room together here,” Rakaal informed them. “I hope you don’t mind.”

Ethan looked to Kat and Lylinora.

“It will be fine,” Lylinora answered, though there was a hint of a frown on her face as she looked from Markus to Jonas.

Rakaal gave them a slight bow. “Please remain in your rooms until I’ve had the opportunity to speak with my people. You are the first humans to visit here, and I don’t want anything unfortunate to happen.” Without waiting for a reply, he hurried out.

Kat leapt onto one of the top bunks and kicked off her boots. “Have any of you ever seen a place like this?” she asked.

Ethan settled down on the bunk beneath her. “What do you mean?”

“Everything here is made of metal,” she pointed out, lowering her head over the edge of the bed so that she was looking at Ethan upside down. “Not a splinter of wood in the place. Even in the mountain they had
some
wood.”

“That’s not what I find odd,” Jonas joined in. “Have you noticed the construction? All the tables, chairs, doors - everything I’ve seen here so far - was built for someone considerably taller than your average dwarf.”

Ethan hadn’t really noticed this aspect. But now he had cause to think. When in Elyfoss, he was constantly being forced to duck into rooms. And his feet had hung some way off the end of his cot. “You’re right,” he said. “But surely it was the dwarves who built this place.”

“If they didn’t, I can’t imagine who did,” said Jonas. “This is like no human design I’ve ever seen.”

“Actually, it reminds me a bit of how the Navy makes things,” said Markus. He sat on the bed directly across the room from Ethan. “Like on the ship that took us to England. Remember, Ethan?”

“I was thinking the same thing,” he replied. “But that doesn’t explain why everything here has been made too big for dwarves.”

“I wouldn’t worry yourself over it,” said Lylinora. “We have other matters to occupy our minds.”

“Yeah,” agreed Kat. “For one thing, I’m sure as hell not using the same bathroom as the men.”

This produced a round of laughter from everyone. They each found a bed and stretched out. A short time later, King Ganix arrived.

“The boy will be fine,” he told them. “Rakaal has agreed to keep him here until he’s sure he can’t lead anyone to the island. Meanwhile, they will find a use for him.”

This eased Ethan’s mind. He mentioned to the king how they had noticed the odd size of everything.

“That’s a mystery to me as well,” he replied. “I know for sure it was the dwarves who built this place. But why they built it for people of human proportions, I couldn’t say. One of the many puzzles I may never solve.”

“When do we leave?” asked Lylinora.

“Rakaal is having your ship made ready to depart,” Ganix replied. “So I would say twenty-four hours at the most.” He opened the door. “I still have business to attend to. But tomorrow I will show you why we guard this place so jealously.”

“Something just occurred to me,” Ethan said shortly after Ganix had left. “I don’t know a damn thing about piloting a boat. Do any of you?”

They all looked searchingly at one another.

“Let’s assume that Ganix has also thought of that,” said Markus. “I’m more worried about how we find the dragons when we get there. As I understand it, the Wastes are vast. Do we even know where we’re going?”

Ethan smiled. Even now he could hear the dragon’s call. “I can find them,” he assured his friend. “You can bet on that.”

They each took turns bathing and changing – with Lylinora and Kat naturally going first – then decided to turn in for the night.

This time, Ethan’s nightmares returned with renewed intensity. Visions of blood and death swirled around in a violent tempest as dragons tumbled from the sky, consumed by a raging black fire. He tried to force himself awake, but each time he felt consciousness returning, an invisible hand pulled him back in.

When he woke, he was drenched in sweat. The first thing he saw was Markus sitting up in bed regarding him curiously.

“More bad dreams?” he asked.

Ethan could still hear the screams of the dying tearing through his mind. “I thought they were gone for good,” he said. “Ever since I started learning magic, even that bloody voice calling in my head hasn’t been so loud. But now…now it’s worse than ever.”

“You’ll get used to it,” Markus said. “When I was a slave in the mines, I had nightmares every time I closed my eyes.” He cracked a weak smile. “Of course, then I’d open them again and things got even worse.”

His words send a pang of guilt through Ethan. It was easy to forget that his best friend had lived a life of slavery, death, and murder…all because of him. He seemed so different now from the embittered Specter he’d first met. And yet, from time to time, something would flash over Markus’ face. An inexplicable fury. Usually, it was gone before Ethan fully realized he had seen it. But there were a few times when it was clearly visible. He couldn’t tell what brought on these flashes of rage, and was afraid to ask. Markus looked to be at peace with himself most of the time and he would not want to risk changing that with unwelcome questions.

The door cracked open, allowing King Ganix to peek inside. “Are you awake yet?”

“Just me and Markus,” Ethan answered.

“Me too,” added Kat from above.

Markus climbed from his bed to shake Jonas awake. The old man yawned and stretched, his joints cracking loudly in protest.

“Wake up Lylinora,” Markus instructed Kat. “We’ll wait outside while the two of you dress.”

Lylinora looked fatigued when she exited the room. This was in stark contrast to Kat, who bounced around with a smile on her face, bumping playfully into Markus and Jonas.

Ganix led them to a small office where Rakaal had breakfast waiting. Once they’d eaten, they were then taken down a series of halls until arriving at a large double door. Rakaal stopped outside this and turned to regard the visitors.

“Beyond this door you will see things that only a few dwarves are even aware exist,” he announced ceremoniously. “King Ganix has assured me that each of you holds his uttermost confidence and trust. I don’t expect that to mean much to a human. But to me, there can be no higher endorsement.”

His little speech brought a smile to Ganix’s face. “And you say
I’m
pompous,” he joked. “Just open the door and get on with it.”

Chuckling quietly, Rakaal ushered them inside. They found themselves on a long raised walkway overlooking the rest of the interior. Ethan was immediately struck by the sheer size of the place. It was vast, measuring at least six hundred feet from side to side, and twice that from front to back. Above was a flat ceiling with what looked like massive doors embedded into it at regular intervals. Immense light fixtures were hanging from either side.

Below, lined up in row after row on the floor, were innumerable varieties of machinery. Some of these resembled vehicles, but most Ethan couldn’t even begin to identify from a distance.

“This, my friends, is the true craft of the dwarves,” said Ganix.

Ethan and the others were awestruck by the sheer scale of what they were seeing.

“What
are
these?” gasped Jonas.

“Some of them we understand,” replied Rakaal. “Others…well…frankly, we have no idea. What we do know is that they were built by our ancestors thousands, maybe tens of thousands of years ago. No one is sure exactly when.”

“So you weren’t joking yesterday about your people building ships that travel the stars,” remarked Kat.

“I told Ethan that story back in Elyfoss,” Ganix chipped in. “But no. Rakaal wasn’t joking. And this in my mind, proves it.”

Rakaal moved toward a flight of stairs leading to the ground level. “Let’s take a closer look, shall we?”

They followed him down to a row of strange looking devices, each about ten feet long and fitted with what looked like a seat and hand controls on the top middle section. The metal exterior that completely encased the inner workings was a deep red color striped with veins of silver.

“
This
is a flying machine,” Rakaal announced proudly.

Ethan moved closer and ran his fingers over the surface. It was surprisingly warm to the touch. “How do you know?” he asked.

“Because I made one fly,” he replied. This grabbed everyone’s attention. He gave a slightly embarrassed smile. “Well, in truth I got it to hover for a few seconds before it burst into flames. There are nearly one-hundred and fifty of them all together…if I can ever get them to work properly.”

Ethan noticed that some of the flying machines were made from a different material. He touched one and this time felt the familiar cold of tempered steel.

“Ah, yes,” said Rakaal. “Some are made from metals that can be found here in Lumnia. The others are different. Whatever they’re made from, it’s so hard and strong that our best tools can barely scratch it.”

“My guess is that they’re older,” added Ganix. “Perhaps the builders ran out of material and started using whatever they could find here.”

“Put some wheels on it and you have yourself a motorcycle,” noted Markus.

Ethan nodded. “Amazing.”

“Indeed,” agreed Lylinora. “How long have you known of this place?”

“My father found it,” replied Rakaal. “He found clues to its location in some ancient books a few years before I was born.”

“So does that mean you’ve spent your whole life here?” asked Jonas.

“Most of it, yes.”

Rakaal beckoned them to follow. For more than three hours he led them down row after row of various devices, freely admitting that he didn’t understand most of the older ones.

“We can’t even get inside them to see how they operate,” he explained.

The newer devices were a different story. There was everything from construction tools, to transports, weapons, and even small household items used to prepare food.

“But how much of this stuff here actually works?” Lylinora asked.

Rakaal gave an embarrassed frown. “None of it. We can’t get any of them to function for more than a few seconds. Then boom! They either catch fire or explode.”

“Then what good are they,” she asked.

His back stiffened. “If we succeed, we will have weapons and tools that can bring down the Empire. Is that not a worthy enterprise?”

Lylinora shook her head dubiously. “You think a bunch of old trinkets can defeat Shinzan?”

“One of these
old trinkets
, as you call them, is going to take you to the Dragon Wastes,” he retorted.

“I thought you said nothing worked,” Kat pointed out.

“Nothing in
this
room,” he said. “But we have had
some
success. We have managed to power four sea going vessels.”

“Powered with what?” asked Markus.

“Magic, of course,” he replied. “What else?”

“You’ll see for yourself when we show you the ship,” added Ganix.

They continued with the tour for another hour before going back to their room where a meal was waiting for them.

Rakaal excused himself, not forgetting to give Lylinora a contemptuous glance on his way out. Ganix remained and joined them for lunch.

“As much as I hate to admit it, you’re not wrong,” he said to Lylinora. “Unless we can make these things work, they are little more than interesting trinkets. But if Rakaal and the others succeed, we may just have the power to free ourselves from Shinzan’s yoke.”

Lylinora lowered her eyes. “I didn’t mean to offend him, Your Highness. But dwarves already make mighty weapons, and they have had little effect against his power. Why should these be any different?”

“They may not be,” the king admitted. “But being that you are the only trained mage in existence, it’s not as if we have other tools at our disposal.”

“Even if there was a thousand mages,” said Markus. “Didn’t Shinzan already wipe you out once?”